Decoding The Circle

As the purest and most primary structure, circle has a very long history. For tens of thousands of years, in any field of natural science or social science, and in activities such as art creating, designing, and belief, people keep on concerning about circle in their theory researches and practical activities, and make circle one of the most fascinating parts of human civilization. Nowadays, people need to do observation and analysis in a more systematical and structured way, issues are suggested to be solved in an integrative context of interdiscipline, especially considering the field of design. Therefore, this thesis mainly focused on the research of circle theory system, and its effects in design activities.Based on the "schema theory" which created by Immanuel Kant and developed by his successors like Jean Piaget and E. H. Gombrich, " circle schemata" were discussed in the thesis with methods of multi-discipline. A series of connotations and structures of circle had been realized or created during the congnitive and creating activities of human all over the world, and all through the history. Respecting the two organically connected aspects, circle schemata were considered to be constituted by "the connotation schemata" and "the structure schemata". They were discussed in details and in depth in their occurring, development, classification, properties, and the role which they played in visual communication design. The limitations and future vision of circle schemata were also objectively considered in it.